Ukraine has flown its first combat missions with an F-16 after the American-made fighter jets’ long-awaited arrival, reports The Telegraph. These modern warplanes have only been used in an “air defence” capacity so far.

And representatives of the Ukrainian Air Force have not denied it, according to the BBC. Information about the arrival of the first small batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine was disseminated by Bloomberg on Wednesday, and these reports were confirmed by several other Western and Ukrainian media.

“There are also expectations that the jets will be limited to an air-defence role because of the threat posed by Russian surface-to-air missile systems closer to the front lines,” added The Telegraph.